We are not undertaking mass testing for COVID-19 – Health Minister

Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the Minister of Health, has said Ghana is not undertaking a mass testing exercise for COVID-19, for all persons in the lockdown areas of Greater Accra and Kumasi.

He said the current ongoing exercise in these areas is not compulsory, but targeted at contacts of persons who had tested positive for COVID-19, and also the immediate contacts of these persons, as well as other persons who are suspected to have had any close physical encounter with these people.

The Health Minister gave the explanation at the Ministry of Information’s press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, to provide further clarifications on the ongoing testing exercise in Accra, Kumasi and other parts of the country.

He said Ghana currently does not have a policy for mass testing and does not even have the logistical capacity to do so.

Mr Agyeman Manu said the enhanced testing as indicated by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his national address, involved people who fall under the contact tracing bracket, and also travelers who entered the Ghana’s jurisdiction at a particular point in time, particularly before the ban on travelling came into force.

He said the contact tracing team has also already began working earnestly to reach contacts of persons currently under mandatory quarantine and isolation in various centres and locations.

Again the contact tracing team have maintained active surveillance in hotspot areas and would go from house to house to have indept conversations with households and neighbourhoods to provide and collect information on possible suspected cases.

He appealed to the public to stay calm, remain in their homes and support all the authorities with all the necessary information that may be required and also help people who start experiencing signs and symptoms of the disease to seek for immediate healthcare.

Mr Manu said it was only though such cooperation that the country could stop the further spread of the virus into the communities and prevent widespread infection and fatalities.